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AFTER scraping home with a mere 25-vote victory in the recent Gympie mayoral by-election, Mayor Mick Curran has had to deal with a natural disaster and the tragic death of his predecessor.

Yesterday he was getting the feel of his new office.

The only son of railway worker Bill Curran and his wife Noreen, Mick was born in the Gympie Hospital in 1967, and grew up with three sisters.

He strongly denies he was his parents' "golden child".

When Mick was a young lad of three or four his mum took him to kindergarten at what was once the Uniting Church day care centre on Horseshoe Bend.

He lasted two days.

Both days he managed to escape and find his way home to Somerset St (up near the water tower) - a decent walk for a little boy.

So that was the end of that.

School was spent at first, St Patrick's Convent for Years 1-3, then the Christian Brothers College for Years 4-7, and finally Gympie State High School.

Sport was a huge part of young Mick's life and he was an over-achiever in that area, playing cricket, football, golf and athletics.

Mayor Mick Curran's message to Gympie:

His speed on the track led him to several state titles, where he held the Queensland title for both the 100m and 200m for four years, from when he was nine years old until 13.

After graduating high school, he spent 18 months at the Queensland Police Academy before being posted to Cairns for two years and then various Brisbane stations for several years until 1994, when he went to Roma.

In the meantime, Mick married his childhood sweetheart, Sue McClintock, at Gympie's St Peter's Anglican Church in 1993.

The couple went on to have three children: Elyse, now 17, Amy, 15, and Daniel, 10.

Mick and Sue returned to their home town in 1999, when Mick was promoted to sergeant and made District Crime Manager.

He turned down the opportunity for promotion to the Sunshine Coast police in 2003, because he and Sue wanted to continue raising their family here.

"We both think Gympie is such a great place," says Mick. "It's a good place to raise kids."

In 2012, after somebody at a barbecue suggested it would be a good idea, he ran for a seat on the Gympie Regional Council.

"I certainly had some issues with some of the things happening within the council. We had huge rate rises at that time, and there were some other things I had seen around the place that I had issue with.

"I have never been one to whinge about something and do nothing about it.

"If you can see something that needs to be done, get in and have a go."

Mick is now on a "career break leave" from the police force so he can devote himself full-time to his mayoral duties.

"The transition from what you do in the police to local government is not a huge leap," he says.

Just quickly

If you (Mick Curran) could invite anybody from history, dead or alive, to dinner who would you invite?

Muhammad Ali, because he was a great sportsman but also achieved a lot socially and politically;